


You Need Sleep And I Need You

by VictoriaG16



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Gen, The Year Of Hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2013-10-11
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:14:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictoriaG16/pseuds/VictoriaG16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They worked close to fifteen hour days and sleep was the only refuge in the midst of a decimated starship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Need Sleep And I Need You

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know but I enjoy my own pain ???

"B'elanna, you're no use to the ship on four hours of sleep."

"A captain isn't any use on less," came her quick reply. She didn't even look up from her console, her nimble fingers blurring across the controls.

"Touche."

B'elanna clicked one last key, then swiveled her chair to look at the captain. Gritting her teeth and stifling a yawn, she tried to argue, knowing she would never get to sleep leaving her work so unfinished or the captain awake and lonely.

"Captain's orders, _Lieutenant_ , you get some rest." She stood with her hands on her waist, her short hair frizzled around her grimy face. But she was as strong, as stoic as ever. She strode over to the torn seat Torres sat in, and rested her scarred hand on her shoulder, squeezing her fingers with a grimace.

"On one condition: you sleep too." B'elanna rose to her full height -- which, wasn't much compared to, well, anybody, but it was an improvement to sitting. She placed her hand over Janeway's, and removed it from her shoulder, though letting the taut, raw skin rest against the cool of her own palms.

The captain shook her head, a bitter laugh barely escaping her lips, as if she was saying what B'elanna was thinking: "I'm not going to get any sleep anyways." She tugged on her hand, pulling her a little closer and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, leading her away from the damaged bridge. The captain found herself leaning on the engineer just the slightest bit, and that was counteracted by the engineer leaning against her captain. It was an uncanny balance of strength.

All of the remaining crew -- all seven of them -- took their sleeping areas on deck three, scattered around. Seven found a small corner that she liked, and nobody went near it. Harry found a bunk, of sorts, a little higher up with a view of the stars. The Doctor always shut himself off. Tuvok roomed nearer the center of the ship. Neelix most often was found curled up on the floor what used to be the mess hall. When they slept, the ship was silent. For them, sleep was a refuge -- an escape from this hellhole stuck in the middle of space.

The others liked to be alone, most of the time. They could sleep easier without knowing that another living, breathing person was in such close proximity. Maybe the loneliness aided in that escape found in sleep. But both B'elanna and the captain suffered from the insatiable loneliness of those who have lost close friends and tortuous insomnia from the pressure of a thousand people weighing on their shoulders. There was a relatively large area near section 31 that allowed both of them to sleep within range of reach but with enough room to make them both comfortable.

This was where the captain was leading B'elanna, though she herself had no intentions of sleeping. Once they arrived, B'elanna, however, had other ideas. She caught the captain's hand, and pulled her down. "We made a deal."

"I agreed to no such deal."

"That's aside from the point."

"But -- "

"Captain, -- Kathryn -- you need sleep. Don't deny it."

Knowing it would be useless to argue with the hot-headed lieutenant, Kathryn laid back with a sigh, her fingers still locked with B'elanna's.

Neither slept for several hours, though neither moved, either. It was the comfortable silence of two sharing thoughts and emotions without words and without telepathy. It is a bond that cannot be described. It is only experienced.

"What if we die?" B'elanna whispered, turning onto her side, resting her elbow against her jacket, turned into a makeshift pillow. She leaned her head onto her hand, her free hand thumbing Kathryn's wrist.

"We _won't_."

"How do you know?"

"Captain's intuition."

"You made that up."

Kathryn turned those blue eyes onto B'elanna, and she didn't feel like she was being probed or scanned, nor that she was a nervous teenager with a stupid crush, both of which had been common in the early months of knowing Kathryn Janeway, but that she was important, she was the most reliable person in this situation. Captain Kathryn Janeway _needed_ her, fearing that without her brilliant engineer she would crumble away. And if B'elanna felt the same way, well.

With a sudden burst of bravery, B'elanna pulled the captain closer, fully wrapping her into her embrace. As much as Kathryn Janeway needed B'elanna Torres, B'elanna Torres needed Kathryn Janeway.


End file.
